You are on page 1of 1

An Islamic-Christian Debate in the Early Fifth/Eleventh Century: Al-Maghrib (981-1027) and Elias Bar Shinaya (975-1049) on the Qurn

and the Bible Morteza Karimi-Nia Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation, Tehran

One of the most absorbing Christian-Muslim dialogues from the middle ages occured between al-Maghribi, a Shiite poet-theologian and Elias Bar Shinaya, a Christian grammariantheologian in Nisibis. The present article gives a detailed description and analysis of the text which contains a report of the seven sessions that took placed between them in 1026. The text entitled Kitb al-Majlis, was written by the latter, Elias Bar Shinaya (975-1049), a metropolitan of Nisibis. It was done when the former, Abu al-Qsim al-Hussain b. Ali known as al-Vazr al-Maghrib (981-1027) served as a minister for a Buyid ruler in Iraq, and the latter was nominated the metropolitan of Nisibis for the Eastern Church. Both of them had great interest in theological, language, and grammatical issues, which they treated from different points of view. The text survives is a compendium of Christian apologetics, cast in the literary form of seven accounts of as many conversations on Christian doctrines. Among the most interesting features of the dialogue is that Elias ascribes certain Qurnic and exegetical views to al-Maghrib, against which the latter had offered arguments in his al-Masb f tafsr alQurn.

You might also like